Luxury Condo Auction
This is an interesting new marketing strategy I came across recently. Secret auctions. the Boston Globe reported on an upcoming luxury condominium auction at Longwood Towers in Brookline. Some 40 luxury condos are going to the auction block on April 4th. “Great,” I thought – “just in time for me to advertise it for them. The sooner we see some realistic prices, the sooner we can get back on track.”
Unfortunately the Globe declined to add a link to the auction site, and also declined to say exactly where this luxury condo auction is to be held; in fact the only concrete information I gleaned is that Babe Ruth once lived on the site. So I searched online for both the owner’s site and the auctioneer’s. Having found both sites, I was surprised to discover that neither of them felt the need to write anything about the auction or provide any details. So, I have come to the conclusion that this is some new marketing strategy – A secret auction, that no one can find. Interesting approach.
Apparently the autioneer, Jon Gollinger of the East Coast office of Accelerated Marketing Partners said,
“We are going to bring in people who put themselves on the sidelines waiting for bottom – Guess what? We just delivered bottom.”
Which certainly makes him a better man than I am. All I am hearing lately is “are we there yet?”
I did eventually find a mention on Longwood Towers’ website, but very few details about the buildings themselves. As far as I can ascertain, Longwood Towers is three towers, as yet unfinished; insanely expensive monthly fees; was foreclosed upon back in early 2008, and subsequently purchased by the lender (current owner) at a developer’s auction. Minimum bids start “from” $199k, which I take to be for the box room on the ground floor facing the parking lot.
